BetaBeat encourages startups to think twice about .io domains

Today BetaBeat came-out with an article about .io, a domain extension that has been in a hit in the startup world but that has a bit of a mixed past. While .io does sound catchy and has been very popular within the development community, .io doesn’t mean input/output, instead is stands for Indian Ocean, a region with a checkered past and present.

The area that the .io name represents is the Chagos islands, an area that formerly contained a small population of 2,000 islanders who were forcibly removed so that the islands could host a series of British and American military bases. (Source – BetaBeat)

Yes, you read that right, and yes, some of the money from those .io registrations are going to maintaining this area, but not the people who have been displaced as a result.

What BetaBeat found is that while many founders didn’t support what was happening, they loved their .io name and didn’t see their registration as a sign of support for what’s happened in this region.

Some founders, when they were told this, were horrified, though it doesn’t appear that they’ve actually changed their domain names. Others simply didn’t see the problem, positioning it as some sort of issue of perspective. (Source – BetaBeat)

What do you think? Does it matter what your registration dollars go towards when you’re buying and/or renewing a domain name? Comment and let your voice be heard!

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton